Kimberly Usher, PhD

She specializes in transplant mental health care, general pre- and post-surgical mental healthcare, and chronic illness with comorbid mental health concerns. 

Dr. Usher has worked with Veteran and military populations for the majority of her clinical career, having earned her Ph.D. from Purdue University in 2010. Since joining the VA health care system in 2012, Dr. Usher has dedicated her time and expertise to promoting wholistic and interdisciplinary care models for Veterans with complex medical diagnoses.

She joined the Houston VA Heart Transplant/LVAD team having worked in organ transplant at the El Paso VAMC since 2012. In her tenure in El Paso, she successfully restructured the facility’s transplant referral and evaluation program and created training platforms for psychology interns, psychiatry residents, and DNP Nurses.

Her work and leadership earned her honorable mention by The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare as a candidate for their National Compassionate Caregiver of the Year Award. As a MH careline psychologist at the Houston VA, Dr. Usher is embedded in VA’s transplant team and providers mental health services and education to Veterans, their families, and the staff working collaboratively to support patients with heart failure.